how would one make a call to a dll function, that does not have a leading
underscore? i do not have a .lib for the dll.

I had this problem with a DLL; I solved it with a .def file.
Create a .def file (if you don't have one already), and in it, place the
following:
IMPORTS
_name=dllname.name
So, if a function in blah.dll is called "Print", but D is looking for
something named "_Print", you would write:
_Print=blah.Print
This sort of creates an alias, so that the linker can translate from the
underscored name to the actual name.
Then just include the .def file on the commandline when you compile your
program.